Fred Meyer closing Portland store at SE 82nd and Foster

PORTLAND, Ore. – A longstanding Fred Meyer location in Southeast Portland will be closing down early next year, the company said Wednesday.

The Fred Meyer store on SE 82nd Avenue and Foster Road will close on or around January 20, a store spokesperson tells KATU News.

According to Jeffrey Temple, Fred Meyer’s Director of Corporate Affairs, the store has been under-performing and the decision was based on long-term business forecasts.

The news of the closing surprised customers, who say the Foster-Powell-Lents neighborhood is seemingly growing at a rapid pace. Several new apartment buildings are on the cusp of opening west of I-205 and Foster Road.

"It limits your choice, limits your choice on where to go," she said. "It might give us no other choice, but to travel."

The closure will leave many area residents with limited shopping options. Though a Walmart operates at 82nd Avenue and Holgate, and a WinCo recently opened near 82nd and Powell, neither is within easy walking distance for anyone who lives south of Foster Road.

The nearest Fred Meyer store is about two miles south on 82nd Avenue at SE Johnson Creek Boulevard.

Several other businesses including a bank, a Vietnamese restaurant and a hair salon lease space from Fred Meyer.

They only learned of the store's closing when KATU told them Wednesday afternoon. Staff at the restaurant and hair salon said they were not notified of the decision by Fred Meyer. Whether they plan to stay or leave is up in the air.

Fred Meyer will keep the store operating at full capacity through the holidays.

They say everyone working at the store will be offered a job at one of their other locations.